UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ex rel. AZAM RAHIMI, │ Relator-Appellant, │ > No. 20-1063 │ v. │ │ │ RITE AID CORPORATION, │ Defendant-Appellee. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit. No. 2:11-cv-11940—Stephen J. Murphy, III, District Judge.

Argued: January 26, 2021

Decided and Filed: June 29, 2021

Before: BATCHELDER, GRIFFIN, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL ARGUED: Peter A. Patterson, COOPER & KIRK, PLLC, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. William R. Peterson, MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP, Houston, Texas, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Peter A. Patterson, Charles J. Cooper, Vincent J. Colatriano, COOPER & KIRK, PLLC, Washington, D.C., Arun Subramanian, William D. O’Connell, SUSMAN GODFREY LLP, New York, New York, for Appellant. William R. Peterson, MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP, Houston, Texas, Kevin J. Biron, Michael J. Ableson, MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP, New York, New York, for Appellee. Frederick M. Morgan, Jr., MORGAN VERKAMP, LLC, CINCINNATI, Ohio, for Amicus Curiae. No. 20-1063 U.S. ex rel. Rahimi Page 2

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OPINION _________________

GRIFFIN, Circuit Judge.

Azam Rahimi believes Rite Aid Corporation defrauded the federal government of hundreds of millions of dollars by overcharging it for generic prescription drugs, so he filed suit under the False Claims Act (FCA) and several state-law analogues. The district court dismissed Rahimi’s FCA claim under the Act’s public-disclosure bar and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over his remaining claims. We agree and affirm.

I.

A.

Defendant Rite Aid Corporation operates a nationwide chain of pharmacies. Like many of its competitors, Rite Aid offers a discount program—which it calls the “Rx Savings Program”—that provides its members hundreds of generic prescription drugs at reduced prices. The program is free and widely available but excludes customers whose prescriptions are paid in full or in part by publicly funded healthcare programs like Medicare Part D, state-administered Medicaid programs, or TRICARE.

Federal regulations require pharmacies such as Rite Aid to dispense prescriptions for beneficiaries of these healthcare programs at their “usual and customary charge to the general public”—which is often referred to as the “U&C” rate. See 42 C.F.R. § 447.512(b)(2). In general terms, this means that pharmacies cannot charge the government more than the “cash price” offered to the public to fill such prescriptions. See United States ex rel. Garbe v. Kmart Corp., 824 F.3d 632, 636 (7th Cir. 2016).

Relator Azam Rahimi alleges that Rite Aid routinely overbilled these government programs because the amounts it charged did not “take into account either the lower Rx Savings Program prices or any lower pr